Voting Rights Act Court Ruling Could Dramatically Shift Political Control of Congress

In an Aug. 1 decision over redistricting of county commission seats in Galveston, Texas, the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has issued a decision that stops the political misuse of the Voting Rights Act by Democrats and their allies to create voting districts loyal to the Democratic Party instead of protecting the voting rights of minorities. This decision may also affect the political makeup of Congress and state legislatures in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas—the states within the jurisdiction of the 5th Circuit—moving dozens of seats from Democrat to Republican.

In Petteway v. Galveston County, the full appeals court concluded that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act does not protect or “authorize coalition claims, either expressly or by implication.” Coalition districts are districts in which no single minority group constitutes a majority of the voters. Instead, in those districts, there is a combination of different minority racial, ethnic, or language groups that make up a majority of voters.

The citizen population of Galveston County is 58% white, 22.5% Hispanic, and 12.5% black. Although the black population is concentrated in the center of the county, the Hispanic population is evenly dispersed throughout. The county commission consists of five seats: four elected from specific districts and one elected at-large. Neither the black nor the Hispanic population of Galveston County is large enough and concentrated enough to draw a single commission district in which either group constitutes a majority of the voters in that particular district.

As a result, in 1991, the county drew one coalition district that combined the black and Hispanic population in one district, which was represented by a black Democrat as of 2021. The other seats were all held by Republicans, including a black Republican. However, in the 2021 redistricting, the county eliminated the coalition district, which had a black citizen population of 31% and a Hispanic citizen population of 24%.

The NAACP and the Justice Department led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, along with a number of individual plaintiffs, sued Galveston claiming that this was a violation of federal law because coalition districts are required by Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

But the appeals court disagreed, concluding that minority coalition claims are inconsistent with the clear text of Section 2 and “Supreme Court cases rejecting similar ‘sub-majority’ vote dilution claims.”

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Although the Supreme Court has not dealt with coalition districts, it has dismissed the claim that crossover districts are protected by Section 2. Crossover districts are districts in which a minority population such as black voters are combined with a minority of white voters, all Democrats, who then constitute a majority voting bloc in that district.

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There are three important things to keep in mind about this decision. First, although it involved county commission districts in Galveston, the court’s holding that coalition districts of combined black and Hispanic populations are not required by the Voting Rights Act applies to every type of political district in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, from city council to congressional seats.

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Second, this decision stops the political misuse of the Voting Rights Act, at least in the 5th Circuit, to protect Democrat Party interests. Section 2 was intended to stop racial discrimination and vote dilution, not to protect and guarantee the success of political party alliances between different groups of voters.

Third and finally, the 5th Circuit has now joined the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee, which held in 1996 that Section 2 does not cover coalition districts. Perhaps the 11th Circuit, which covers Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, and which had followed the 5th Circuit’s reasoning in the Campos decision, will reconsider its own prior precedent now that the 5th Circuit has overturned Campos.

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